Bee Gees

EARLY YEARS

Born on the Isle of Man during the late 1940s, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb moved with their family to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England in 1955. 

Barry (born September 1 1946) was the oldest. Twins Robin and Maurice were born just 30 minutes apart on December 22, 1949. 

They formed in Chorlton-cum-Hardy a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass.  Below is The Rattlesnakes in early 1958, from left to right: Paul Frost, Kenny Horrocks, Maurice, Barry and Robin Gibb.

By http://www.brothersgibb.org/news-2012.html -

In December 1957 the Gibb brothers began to sing in harmony. The story is told The Bee Gees were going to lip sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema, but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live and received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career.

In August 1958, the Gibb family emigrated to Australia shortly after the birth of youngest sibling Andy, and the Gibbs performed anywhere and everywhere they could, in order to raise some pocket money. 

Speedway promoter Bill Goode gave the Gibb brothers their first break after he hired them to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960.

The Bee Gees were given their name by a Brisbane disc jockey called Bill Gates. He named the group the "BGs" (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his, Barry Gibb's, and speedway promoter Bill Goode's initials. 

After securing a spot performing on local television shows, they were eventually signed for a record label in 1963. 

Their twelfth single "Spicks And Specks" was their first ever chart-topper, topping the New Zealand pop charts (#3 in Australia).

INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS

After achieving their first chart success in Australia with "Spicks and Specks", they returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience.

From the outset Barry Gibb was the primary creative force, penning the majority of their hit songs in the 1960s as well as countless other songs for other artists. 

"New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones)" was the The Bee Gees' debut recording in England. It became their first international success.

"(The Lights Went Out In) Massachusetts" was their first UK number one. The Bee Gees had never actually been to Massachusetts when they recorded this; they just liked the sound of the name.

While recording "Nights On Broadway" in 1975, the producer Arif Martin asked if one of the Bee Gees could do some screaming during the main chorus to make the song more exciting. In response, Barry Gibb began singing higher and higher, eventually singing it in a falsetto that was unexpectedly powerful. He had never known he had such an ability and Barry's falsetto became a trademark of the Bee Gees.

When Robert Stigwood, decided to make a feature film from an article written by rock writer, Nik Cohn, about the disco scene in New York, he asked the Bee Gees to contribute the soundtrack. The film was to be called Saturday Night and Stigwood asked for a new song with that title. The Gibb Brothers thought it was a corny title but they already had a song called ‘Night Fever’, hence the film’s eventual title.

The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, composed and performed primarily by the Bee Gees helped turn disco into a global phenomenon  It is the second best-selling soundtrack album of all time and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year-  the only disco album to do so.

The Bee Gees in 1977 (top to bottom): Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb

The first public demonstration of a compact disc player was on a 1981 episode of the BBC's Tomorrow's World. The CD they used was a special transfer of the Bee Gees' Living Eyes LP.

In November 2015, their hit "How Deep Is Your Love" was played at a deafening volume as police in the Philippines tried to scatter Leftwing protesters at a world leaders’ meeting.

The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them the most successful family and sibling band of all time.

PERSONAL LIVES

Robin Gibb was one of the survivors of the Hither Green railway crash in the United Kingdom, which killed 49 people on November 5, 1967.

Barry Gibb bought the Tennessee house Johnny Cash lived in from 1968 until his death. In 2007, while the home was being renovated for Gibb, it caught fire and burned to the ground. 

Maurice Gibb was an avid paintball player. He competed in tournaments as a member of the team the Royal Rat Rangers.

The Bee Gees in Los Angeles in 1992. By Mahmoodkhanmusic  Wikipedia

The three brothers were heartbroken in 1988 when brother Andy Gibb succumbed to years of substance abuse, and died at the age of 30. 

Maurice Gibb died of a cardiac arrest because of a congenital birth defect on January 12, 2003. It brought to a close the forty year career of The Bee Gees.

On May 20, 2012, Robin Gibb, died at the age of 62 from liver and kidney failure brought on by colorectal cancer. 

All three members of Bee Gees revealed during a copyright trial that they never learned to read or write sheet music despite being among the most prolific songwriters of all time. Instead, they developed a trial-and-error process and relied on their staff to transcribe the results.

Source Artistfacts